Bangkok (again)

Finally got back to Bangkok after a pretty lengthy bus journey. It wasn't so bad but they had the air-con on so high that it was really cold. Too hot outside, too cold inside. Maddy snaked me and decided to take some socks on with her - she didn't tip me off. I remember waking up because my feet were so cold and feeling really bitter about that. Lesson learnt though I suppose!

Bangkok has been really busy for us, we've had loads of things we've needed/wanted to do so it has been a bit non-stop. I've dutifully spent alot of the time shopping, which in all honestly has been quite fun, but tiring. I've hippied it up a little bit and bought some baggy fishermans pants, we've also indulged in some dirty cheap knock off clothes - which is good because I've been running pretty low! We've also got a lot better at bartering now too.

There is a massive shopping centre here called MBK, which is great because it has air-con and some nice shops as well as indoor markets, so we've been there a couple of times. Me and Maddy had a game of wii-bowling on a rooftop bar in Koh Phi Phi and since then she has been goading me about how crap I am at bowling because she destroyed me - she was convinced that she would do the same with real bowling, so fortunately we had the chance to see if she was right! She wasn't, 168-76. I managed 4 strikes in a row at one point too, it was a good moment.

We've been feasting on some crappy fast food/western food in Bangkok while we've had the chance. The menues on all the islands have been basically identical, and we won't be anywhere as built up as Bangkok for quite a while, so had our fill while we were here. Double big mac was good, but absolute filth.

We also had to finish off our tour of the temples in Bangkok (kind of, way to many to see them all). The first day was quite funny. Lots of the tuk tuk drivers in Bangkok offer you a cheaper ride if they can take you to a couple of stops along the way, basically shops where the drivers are given a free bottle of gasoline for bringing the customers. We got a deal with a tuk tuk driver to take us to 4 temples, waiting for us outside each one if we would make a couple of stops, this cost us 10 baht (about 20p). We decided to give it a go. The third temple we stopped at (the only one we didn't ask to go to) was the 'lucky buddha', it was a tiny temple on a pretty small street. While we were there we bumped into a lovely off duty police officer who stopped to chat to us for a little while and seemed really genuine, told us all about his family and that it was his birthday and so on (also spent a while talking about the temples and what Thai people do at them). At the end, almost incidentally he told us about Sup Fashion - the best tailor in all of Asia (apparently), he claimed they make the suits for the Thai military and government, and that all his friends from London love them. He wished us well and went off on his way. After our visit to the lucky buddha, we stopped off at one of the shops the tuk tuk driver took us to. It was Sup Fashion! What a coincidence!!! Being the street savvy travellers that we are we clocked straight away that the guy from the temple was a set up. The seller in the Sup Fashion shop was very pushy and doing his best to get a deposit out of us that day (prices go up tomorrow - of course). We politely decilned and said we might return tomorrow (yeah right). Thought the whole thing was really funny to be honest - a quick google later that day confirmed our suspicions that the whole thing was a scam and other people had been approached by the same guy.

We bumped into some guys we met on the islands later that day, told them the story and one of their faces dropped - he'd put down a deposit for two suits!!

The "lucky buddha"

Giant Buddha

Bangkok has been a bit like that, in the touristy places at least you can't walk anywhere without being hassled constantly, but mixed among the people trying to scam you are alot of genuinely helpful people that have helped us out lots along the way. So I suppose we've tried to keep cautious without being too dismissive - it becomes obvious once people start asking for money or trying to take you places. The most useful phrase i've learnt is 'mai khob' (at least I think that's how you spell it), which means no thankyou - it doesn't matter how many times you say it in English you keep getting hassled, but saying it once in Thai people leave you alone straight away.

We did loads more in Bangkok - there are loads of photos (if you're curious). We visited the Grand Palace which was great, spent lots of time on Khao San Road too (we stayed just around the corner) which was both amazing and chaotic. Also got on an all you can eat sushi buffet - I always overindulge in buffets and feel like crap for the rest of the day - no restraint. I ate until I felt pretty ill and then ate a bit more for good measure. After that had a bit of chocolate ice cream to help keep things down (in my defence we were about to get on the bus, so it was lunch AND dinner).

Sushi time!

Khao San Road

A small part of the Grand Palace

On our last night in Bangkok we wanted to check out the Sky Bar on State Tower - a rooftop bar on the 63rd floor of a Bangkok skyscraper. We'd heard they are pretty harsh with the dresscode so I wore my smartest outfit which was my 3/4 length fishermans pants with my Birkenstocks (I took my trainers along just in case they briks wouldn't do, but they were definitely scruffier). When our taxi pulled up I guessed straight away that they might not let us in - this place was ridiculously upmarket. Sure enough they didn't like my open toe shoes or 3/4 length trousers. I changed into my beat up trainers which was fine, but the trousers were still an issue. We thought it a little strange since i looked much smarter than I would have in jeans - but they wouldn't budge. So we headed back to Patpong market, which was the closest one. We managed to pick up some black linen trousers for 150 baht (about 3 pounds) and head back to the tower - thankfully this time they let us in. It was definitely worth it. The bar was by far the nicest bar i've ever been to in my life. The view was unbelievable. It was pretty expensive, we ended up paying about 1100 baht for two cocktails - which to put it in context, we paid 400baht for a night at our accomodation, but then to put it in perspective you would easily pay more than that in London for much worse places. I suppose with most things the pictures can't really do it justice, but we took quite a few to do our best!!

We've arrived in Chiang Mai this morning (Tuesday) after another 12 hour coach journey - this one was pretty good though, we both slept really well and it was really cheap. Lot's to do here so it will be pretty busy again before heading of to Laos at the weekend. We're trying to keep on top of photos a bit more now the internet is cheaper, so we're updating as we go along. All photos from Bangkok are up now and even a few from Chiang Mai this morning.

In general the travelling is going great. We had been doing pretty well on not spending too much but Bangkok was fairly expensive, and there are a few things we want to do in Chiang Mai (Elephant parks!!!) that look fairly pricey too - but i suppose there is no point in coming all this way and then skimping for the sake of a few pounds. The actual travelling part of travelling is pretty brutal at times, and it is a bit strange getting used to having friends for a couple of days and then leaving people and places. The food has lived up to expectations over here, really great (Mussamun curry is my favourite), but i'm also missing some food from home quite alot too (roast dinners and tortellini particularly). Chang beer is great, cheap and cheerful but it tastes great - I didn't realise for quite a while that it's 6.4% though, heavy going! In many respects it has been a bit of an eye opener (the travelling, not the Chang) but never really been overwhelming - which i suppose is what you want.

Anyway, that's a pretty long post so I will leave it there. I've got a couple of really good soul/funk mixes on the ipod which i've been listening to recently. That era of music is such a massive influence on so much of the music I listen to these days, if for nothing else the samples alone. Lynn Collins - Think, is a good example, the drum breaks have been used in hundreds of hip hop (the good stuff at least, hip hop lost the funk when it lost the breaks in my opinion) and drum and bass tunes. Second tune is one of my all time favourite drum and bass tunes, it samples the drums.